guErRilla candy is Travis Hay's one-stop destination for opinionated and informed musing about all things music, ranging from noteworthy news bits about the local scene to rants about how the national music media gets more things wrong than it does right.

The night Sonic Youth renewd my faith in rock n’ roll

Okay, so I never actually lost my faith in rock n’ roll, but if I ever did, Sonic Youth is the band that would restore my faith.

Last weekend my faith, which as I must remind you I never actually lost, was restored when I made a trip to the Moore Theatre to witness what the greatness that is Sonic Youth. I had never seen SY perform prior to Friday and although I enjoy their music I walked into the Moore expecting the same thing I expect out of any band I see for the first time live – nothing. See, my theory is that if you expect nothing from a band then you are walking into a show with a non-biased mindset and you either get a good set you weren’t expecting or a band totally blows it and plays horribly. There’s a little bit of insight into my little rock critic mind for you.

Anyway, watching SY for the first time I was blown away. The energy the band was giving off was amazing. This may sound crazy, but I seriously think that if Nirvana were still around making music today it would sound similar to “Rather Ripped.” The record is melodic and powerful and carries a certain amount of oomph outside of its guitar solos and noisy clashed of sound. I highly recommend picking it up if you can find it at your local record store. The reason I say that is because I couldn’t find it here in Ellensburg at my local record shop.

I was delightfully amazed by the way Thurston Moore (by the way, I purposely avoided the Thurston Moore Theatre puns in my review ) was throwing around his body and commanding his guitar, making noises that seemed to transcend what the rest of the band was doing. All of the new songs on the record sounded better live than on the album and that’s saying a lot since I just professed how much I enjoy “Rather Ripped.” It is definitely one of my favorite records of the year so far.

I would be ignorant if I said I didn’t know voting for the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame was pretty much rigged (it’s a conspiracy theory of mine), but SY has been around for 25 years and they definitely deserve some consideration for the hall. They’ve influenced everyone from the Flaming Lips to Nirvana and there were as many fans in their teens at the Moore as there were fans in their 30s. So although I don’t have a vote for the rock hall here’s to hoping Kim, Thurston, Jim, Lee and Steve get what they deserve and eventually are placed in the Hall of Fame. Here’s to hoping I didn’t jinx the group with te below nugget from my review:

… so here’s to hoping Sonic Youth doesn’t pull a Sleater-Kinney and decide to take an indefinite hiatus after releasing one of its best records.